Growing native plants is a source of unmitigated joy. A small urban yard will come to life with countless species of bees, butterflies, moths, beetles, and birds of all descriptions including hummingbirds. It’s also easy to do, and beautiful. You don’t have to tear up your lawn and turn it into what your neighbours may perceive as a weed patch, if that’s not your jam. In fact each part of your yard can become its own little ecosystem and a … Read more
The White Bear Forest has one of the most interesting histories of any of Temagami’s old-growth areas. Sloan Watters, a 46-year veteran of the logging industry, named the forest in honour of Chief White Bear, who once had a cabin nearby. The story of this forest is interwoven with the story of Sloan Watters. When Sloan started working for Gillies Bros. & Co. Ltd (now Gillies Lumber Inc.) in 1946, there was a mill just across from White Bear Forest, … Read more
Near the field centre where we worked in the 1990’s there was a sandpit at the top of a ravine in the middle of many kilometres of red pine plantation. It was littered with shotgun shells and criss-crossed with ATV tracks; several old cars had been pushed over the brink and rested at the bottom of the escarpment next to the creek, half-filled with stones that had been thrown from above. A hand-painted sign labelled the spot “Devil’s Canyon.” We had spent previous summers studying … Read more
Some of North America’s oldest hardwood trees persist in obscurity, and in peril. Nate Torenvliet describes finding a 580-year-old black gum tree in the Niagara region of Ontario. I first became acquainted with black gums on an outing to Grassie, Ontario with a local tree group, and it was a meeting I would not forget. Black gum, a member of the Tupelo family is one of those trees that doesn’t disappoint at any time of the year. Its Latin epithet, Nyssa sylvatica refers … Read more
Submitted to: Joe Yaraskavitch, R.P.FManagement Forester Joe.yaraskavitch@ontario.ca Dear Mr. Yaraskavitch, Please accept my comments on the proposed operations for the 2021-2031 Forest Management Plan (FMP) for the Algonquin Park Forest. Algonquin Park is provincially and internationally significant for its concentration of old-growth forest. Roughly 40% of forest over 140 years old in Ontario’s Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Forest Region is located in Algonquin Park, while the Park occupies only 4% of the land in the region. There is no similar park … Read more
Globally, forests absorb large amounts of carbon dioxide and turn it into wood (in living and dead trees), and soil organic matter. This carbon is safely sequestered away from the atmosphere, where it can’t trap heat and contribute to climate change. Almost a third of the CO2 emitted by humans has been absorbed by the world’s forests over the past few decades, roughly the same amount that was taken up by oceans – this is obviously a very big deal … Read more
Even for the most basic day trip in a park there are a few must-bring items, things like water, a warm or waterproof layer, and a smart phone! A few years ago I realized my phone is not merely a useful piece of outdoor gear (GPS / camera etc.), it’s actually the most powerful conservation tool I own. It lets me learn and keep track of new species, identify and report invasive species, record disease / pest-resistant trees, identify and … Read more
A few years ago I got an email about a 510-year-old Black Gum tree growing behind an archery club in Niagara Falls. Nate Torenvliet, an arborist and amateur old-growth sleuth, had found the tree, drilled out a tree core (a pencil-shaped section of wood), and counted 498 annual growth rings. Another tree nearby was more than 400 years old. This unassuming woodlot near Niagara Falls was first identified in 2003 by the late Bruce Kershner, an old-growth researcher from New York State. Later the same … Read more